Far from being the province of the style gurus, bathroom downlights are the lynchpin of most of today’s bathroom lighting schemes.  Whether you go for wide or narrow beam, downlights are perfect for the task lighting so necessary in the bathroom – and they cast lovely ambient light too.

If you’ve never seen the gubbins that goes behind a downlight, you might be surprised at their simplicity. The lamp itself is housed in a sealed container that fits into the ceiling.  This seal is important because, without it, the can will act as a chimney, drawing heat up into the ceiling void and creating a fire hazard.

In most modern downlights, installation is a simple matter of pushing the can up into a suitable sized hole in the ceiling, where it is secured by clips. The added advantage of this is that if any work needs to be done, the can may be pulled clear of the ceiling – well to the length of the cable anyway.  When choosing bathroom downlights, be sure that they conform to electrical regulations, which limit the fittings that may be used in certain bathroom areas.  The regulations are based on IP ratings.

You can get halogen and LED downlights, and both of these light sources are excellent for bathrooms, where accurate colour rendition of skin tones is important.  Modern LED lamps also give enough brightness for ambient lighting.

Halogen bathroom downlights, powered from the mains, can be dimmed using normal light dimmers placed outside the bathroom.  Low voltage downlights require a special kit to allow dimming.

The recommended spacing between downlights is between 6 and 7 feet and you will also need to place the lights in between joists.  For this reason it is terribly easy to fall into the trap of ‘runway lighting.’  If that’s the look you’re after, all well and good, but not many people want an airport runway across their bathroom ceiling, so it’s something to be aware of.  Likewise, try to place your lamps about 3 feet in from the edges of the ceiling if you don’t want to cast ugly shadows and have the lumps and bumps of your walls highlighted in all their glory.

Bathroom downlighting makes for incredibly flexible lighting, and with the low voltage option, they help you keep control of your electricity bills.  Low voltage is also safer in the bathroom.  If you have to get an electric shock, rather it comes from 12 volts than 240!

If you want to be creative with your bathroom lighting, bathroom downlights are where it’s at!

Tags: bathroom down lighting, bathroom downlight, bathroom downlighters, downlights

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at 7:30 am and is filed under Bathroom Downlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.